1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to storage management systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for using statistical process control within a storage management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
To provide data redundancy and security within a computer network, information stored in a server connected to the network is backed up to a storage system on a periodic basis. Generally, a plurality of servers are connected to a backup server. The backup server serves as a primary component in a storage management system whereby timing and control of the backup processes are performed by the backup server. Periodically, information stored in the servers is copied to the backup server. The backup server generally stores the information within a mass storage system or device.
Each server within the network has specific backup needs that generally vary from server to server. To insure that backup processes are not incorrectly performed, the backup server utilizes a number of criteria to monitor server and backup performance. These criteria include no information available, oversized files, excessive backup time, and the like. When the backup process does not fulfill a specific criteria, the backup server will set an alarm to notify an operator of the backup failure. For expediency, the backup criteria are generally set the same for all servers within the network using a generic criteria that is designed to fit most situations. However, in practice, the alert criteria does not fit every situation. This results in the occurrence of both false positive and false negative alarms.
In other situations, no specific alarm criteria is used, rather a report is generated that contains all the backup parameters. An operator must review the reports to identify backup anomalies. Such review can be time consuming and lead to failure to identify backup problems when the volume of reported data is large.
Therefore there is a need in the art for an improved backup alarm generation system that is tailored to the requirements of each server.